Employed as a carer, working out in the gym and going out with her friends, Abbie Potts lived like any 24-year-old with the rest of her life ahead of her.
Until a sudden attack of a little-understood condition changed everything.
Now, at 25, Abbie lives in a care home, paralysed from the waist down, reliant on a wheelchair and forced to ask for help for her most basic needs.
Go here for the latest NHS news and breaking North East public health news
In July 2021, Abbie returned to her Wallsend home after an evening out with friends in Newcastle, where she suffered a seizure followed by a migraine.
Her symptoms were so bad that she was admitted to hospital, staying in the RVI for four months and marking her 25th birthday from an inpatient bed.
Abbie was diagnosed with functional neurological disorder, FND, a disease of the nervous system which affects how the brain is able to control the body.
It's left her unable to walk, suffering non-epileptic seizures which can last up to six hours and make her injure herself, enduring pain all over her body and unable to go out by herself. Her symptoms fluctuate, with stress often making them worse.
"My life has just changed completely," Abbie said.
"I was admitted to hospital on July 16, and I remember that, but apart from that I really can't remember anything from the first week.
"The worst thing for me was having to ask for help: having to ask to wash, to get dressed. I have no dignity left. I've come to terms with it now, but it's still awful."
Although researchers report that symptoms of the condition are the second-most common reason for outpatient visits to neurologists, FND is still poorly understood.
Often triggered by psychological factors like stress or trauma, FND used to be misunderstood as purely psychological, with some patients even dismissed as 'feigning' their symptoms. Now, it's known to be a brain condition which needs treatment, usually with psychological and physical therapy which aims to create new pathways in the brain and restore a person's ability to control their body.
Abbie says she's found that the condition still isn't well understood, even by medical professionals, and that she struggled to find a care home suitable for her needs.
She's recently moved to a new care home, in Sunderland, but dreams of being able to live independently one day.
She said: "It's been really difficult to find places that will take me, and get access to a psychologist and physio who can help.
"I've got to stay positive, I'm trying to make light of it otherwise I would just stay in my room and cry, I put a face on a lot so people don't see what it's actually like.
"There is no medication to cure FND which is a very hard pill to swallow. Recovery from FND is very different from person to person, but with the right rehabilitation programme symptoms can sometimes be controlled - but there is no guarantee which leaves my future looking very unknown."
Abbie decided to share her story in a bid to raise awareness of the condition, which she's heard described as "the most common condition that no-one knows about".
"It can happen overnight: I was working, I had literally just finished work for the holidays, I'd been out having a laugh with my friends," she said.
"You would never think you would be in this position, I owned my own house and then a year later I don't even know how I'm going to pay bills because I'm not working. I used to have a normal life, doing what I wanted, going to work, going to the gym, going out for a drink with friends. Now I need to ask for help for everything - it's a horrible situation to be in.
"It needs to be more known about and there needs to be more research and help for people who have it."
Abbie is raising money for research and awareness in FND at https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-abbie-on-her-fnd-journey
For the latest local news in your area direct to your inbox every day, go here to sign up to our free newsletter
